Ed Stafford and Cho Rivera ran in celebration into the Atlantic Ocean yesterday. Ed had just walked the length of the vast Amazon river, accompanied from Peru by Cho.
Ed began his expedition over two years ago. In that time he and his various partners have experienced all of the nightmarish stuff you might imagine jungles to hold: snakes, swamps and people wanting to kill them.
I am really, really chuffed that Ed managed to stick it out. It has been a hellishly hard expedition. On top of all the voluntary misery that tough expeditions entail, he has had to overcome other hurdles too: financially it was touch and go whether he could make it to the end. He fell out with his original partner. Angry people waved guns in his face. These things are the kind of perfectly valid excuses that weak people (or strong people in weak moments) would seize upon as reasons to have given up (without the stigma of merely “giving up”).
But Ed and Cho persevered through it all. And now they have their reward. Deep satisfaction. Some incredulity. Lots of relief. The realisation that they were capable of so much more than they (and others) believed. Pride. Special memories.
I have a huge amount of respect for this expedition. Partly this is because I would have hated it myself! Normally I am jealous when I hear of other journeys. But this trek sounded too tough for me. I also admire this expedition because they overcame so many doubters and difficulties. I admire it because they went and did it anyway, despite being told it was too hard and not having enough money.
And I admire it because it was so big and so slow and hard. For the majority of the expedition nobody back home knew about those two guys slogging away. But they did it anyway. They persevered with superb blogs and videos, working hard to share their story with the world. That is important too.
I get a lot of emails from people wanting to make a career from adventures and expeditions. Most of them are brilliant to receive. The few that grate are those that say, in essence,
“I have never done anything before. What do I have to do to get famous, get on the telly, sell a load of books? I want it all and I want it now.”
I love this Amazon expedition so much because it is a perfect example of serving an apprenticeship and doing something for the sake of the doing. Do something big. Do it right. Do it for the right reasons. And if you do it long enough and well enough then you will reach your ocean at the end of your river. You’ll make it. And your website will crash, like Ed’s has done today, because suddenly everyone wants a piece of you despite not giving a damn when you were beset by doubts, struggling for cash, and fighting like hell to stiffen your resolve enough to persevere.
Well done Ed and Cho. Felicidades! Chapeau! I am very impressed.
Links:
Ed’s personal website
The Walking the Amazon website
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I found out about this guy recently. Amazing stuff and from my neck of the woods originally.
You can’t claim vicarious glory just because he grew up near your mum and dad!
!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha
Met him out in Belize a few years ago, **** nutter, but what a legend, true hero!
Been following it all the way through, and so inspiring!
I followed Ed for the best part of 18 months.
This goes far beyond outstanding. Ed, and his Partner Cho, are a real credit to adventure and exploration.
I just hope that one day I can get to shake his hand and congratulate him in person.
A grand effort!
Alistair,
Thanks so much for sharing this story. I love your blog for the way you introduce me to so many other adventures.
Richhard
Well done Ed and Cho!!!!
And thank you Al for your thoughts – it is really important to hear people like you passing honest opinions on other expeditions.
Thanks for this post Al, I can’t imagine how tough this must have been, huge credit to the boys and all the other people involved in making it possible, I’m sure the list is long, Mark
An amazing journey, there are not many true ‘firsts’ left in this world. Somebody will write a book about this ‘mad’ Englishman in 100 years’ time.
However, I don’t understand that comments still appear in articles about the trip about Luke Colyer (though I understand why you have linked it in yours to Ed’s guest blog). I don’t know either man but it seems that Luke gets vilified a little more than he deserves for not keeping up his end of the trip. He left the trip for whatever reason; Ed states that he found him annoying. The two clearly weren’t getting on in each other’s constant company, that they managed three months together on this journey is something. Luke still achieved an impressive feat and his life goes on too.
Ed’s frustrations with his new companion Sam’s foot problems were also very apparent in his tweets and blog. Perhaps the cultural barrier between Ed and Cho was the reason the two of them lasted together until the end.
Luke’s departure happened three months into the expedition, over two years ago, a lot has happened since then and Ed has achieved something incredible. I would have thought that Luke leaving happened long enough ago for it not to be a part of what is a much bigger story.
Congratulations to Ed, an incredible achievement, I look forward to hearing about your next exploit.
[…] Ed Stafford is the first man in history to walk the length of the Amazon river. His expedition is, rightly, feted and lauded at the moment. So I was really grateful when he agreed to speak at the London Night of Adventure. […]
[…] Ed Stafford’s 860 day expedition to walk the length of the Amazon is an old-school epic. (If you don’t know the story get a 400 second summary of it here). It was infuriating to see his excellent documentary languishing on Channel 5 whilst primetime BBC channels feature endless streams of celebrities whingeing up Kilimanjaro for a week and total idiots top the travel book charts. It is yet another hammer blow in my questioning as to whether I actually want to be making my living by chasing the adventurer’s dollar, or whether I should just bugger off and do good stuff on my own terms. […]